Beltain
Crafts & Activities
One
of the customs of Beltane celebrations is to crown a young girl as the
“May Queen” and a young boy as “May King”.
The
girls’ crowns would have flowers and the boys’ crowns would have
all sorts of greenery. You can make a crown to wear out of things
growing in your garden or that you collect in the wild or at the park.
Just
start with an old clothes hanger (the metal kind).
You’ll have to have strong hands or a grown-up to help cut the
ends off with wire cutters. Then, with a pair of pliers, bend the ends around into loops.
Have one end hook through the other to make a circle that fits your
head. Next,
using floral tape or masking tape (you might want to spray paint that
green first) attach little bundles (about 3 or 4 inches long) of flowers
and greenery you’ve collected to the wire.
Start at one
end, and overlapping the bundles, work your way around til the whole wire
is covered. When
you’re done, you can add long ribbon streamers to hang down your back. (Yellow
and green ribbons work well for boys.) Tie little bells to the ends
of the
ribbon and POOF
– you’re
all decked out for Beltane!
Lavender
Fairy Wands
“Elf
Leaf” is another name for Lavender and, if you have this plant growing
in your garden or know someone else who does, you can make a special magic
wand from it. Start with an odd number (7 is
good) of fresh lavender stalks with the buds just starting to open.
The longer the stem the better! Line up the bottom buds and take a
long piece of ¼ inch satin ribbon (about 2 feet) and tie them together
just below the bottom buds. Carefully, so you don't break them,
bring the stems down over the ribbon knot and flower buds. Tuck in
the small end of the ribbon and pull out the long end. Going clockwise start weaving over
and under. Tuck the buds in as you go. You will want to weave
them very tightly
since
the lavender will shrink as it dries. Sometimes a crochet hook will
help you reach between the stems to grab the ribbon. Continue to weave over and under
down the stems until you have woven over all of the buds and then at least
one more round. Finally tie the ribbon off in a knot and trim the ends of the stems so they are even. At this point, you can cut the rest of the ribbon off or you can leave it dangling and add more lengths of ribbon to make streamers. Now, use your wand to bless your garden, your pets and family. (oh, yes - and don't forget your Self!)
A
Beltain Picture Click on the little picture to open and print out the full sized one...
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